Air New Zealand Targets Japanese Market With 30% Lower Airfare

In a tie-up campaign with Tourism New Zealand, Air New Zealand is enticing Japanese tourists to visit the country Down Under during the colder months by offering them hefty 30 per cent discounts on plane fare.

The target travel dates would be from April through October. Return fares from Japan starts at 75,000 yen or NZ$880.

Scott Carr, the general manager of Air New Zealand in Japan, said, "Japanese tourists are some of New Zealand's highest spending visitors and encouraging more to travel to New Zealand has benefits for both the airline and the country's tourism industry."

With the offer, Air New Zealand aims to double the number of Japanese tourists to the country by 2019 by focusing on growing year-round traffic and working with trade partners to develop an enticing seasonal product and pricing.

Nick Mudge, the regional manager in Japan of Tourism New Zealand, added that demand reaches a peak during the summer months in New Zealand - which is the calendar year end - and it wants the extend the high interest into the quieter tourist season.

The Japanese are the fifth largest group of international visitors to New Zealand. To bring in more of them, Tourism New Zealand launched in Japan the film The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug in late February. The movie features the famous Hobbiton village shot in New Zealand's North Island.

YouTube/Warner Bros. UK Trailers

In anticipation of more tourists, Air New Zealand would deploy in November the Boeing 787-9 Dreamliner for the Japan-New Zealand route.